Hello everyone! It has been a great week for my Swedish inquiry. On Thursday, I and the other teacher candidates that are headed to Sweden for our practicum learned that we will soon be receiving our grade level where we will be teaching and some contacts for our mentor teachers. It is getting exciting because, in less than two months, we will be in Stockholm, wow! Today’s post will be continuing on from last week’s, get ready to learn more about the Swedish Educational System.

More About Education in Sweden
  • Over the past two decades, Swedish students have apparently been poorly performing on international comparisons. Because of this, a complete revamp of the Swedish curriculum and an improvement to the status of the teaching profession has occurred.
  • These reforms have resulted in a “positive trend for Sweden’s educational quality, with Sweden’s 15-year-olds scoring above the OECD average in mathematics, reading, and science” through the 2019 PISA assessment.
  • While reforming their educational system, the Swedish Government was inspired by Finland, South Korea (where teachers are paid a high salary) and the Netherlands (class sizes are smaller than most other countries).
  • The new education act, the 2011 Swedish Education Act, promotes “greater oversight, freedom of choice, and student safety and security.”
  • New Curriculum: The curricula contain new general goals, guide­lines, and syllabi. The pre-school curriculum includes “clearer goals for children’s linguistic and communicative develop­ment and for science and technology.” There are nation-wide tests on each subject for students in years 3, 6, and 9. Also, there are “new qualification requirements for areas including upper secondary school studies.”
  • New Grading System: as my final piece for this week, I am going to bring up something that really caught my eye in the Swedish Educational system. Their grading system has moved away from a way that is similar to our current system in the new BC curriculum towards their new style which looks like our old grading style. Pretty interesting how curriculums and grading systems differ across the world! “The old Swedish system [had] four grades from Pass with Special Distinction (MVG) down to Did Not Pass (IG) was replaced by a new grading scale with six grades from A to F in 2011. A to E are passing grades, with F as a failing grade. Grades are assigned starting in year 6.”
My evergrowing list of Swedish words/phrases that I have learned on Duolingo:
  • A boy = En pojke
  • A girl = En flicka
  • A woman = En Kvinna
  • I am a woman = Jag är en kvinna
  • A man = En man/ Mannen
  • Drinking = Dricker
  • Water = Vatten
  • Eating = äter
  • And = Och
  • A = Ett
  • Bread = Bröd
  • One book, several books = En bok, flera böcker
  • A menu = En meny
  • You = Du
  • Have = Har
  • A/one/an = En and Ett
  • Newspaper(s) = Tidning(ar)
  • A letter = Ett brev
  • The child = Barnet
  • Milk = Mjolk
  • It = Det
  • Read = Läser
  • She = Hon
  • He = Han
  • Are/Is = är
  • We = Vi
  • You = Du
  • Sandwich = smörgås
  • They = De
  • Rice = Ris
  • Good morning = God morgon!
  • Yes = Ja
  • Please = Snälla
  • So = så
  • Then = då
  • You are welcome = Varsågod
  • Hello = Hej or Hållo
  • Everyone = Alla
  • Welcome = Välkommen
  • I am sorry = Ursäkta
  • Food = mat
  • Pasta = Pasta
  • Breakfast = Frukost
  • Fruit = Frukt
  • Sugar = Socker
  • Cheese = Ost
  • Coffee = Kaffe
  • Lunch = lunch
  • Good bye = Hej då
  • Dog(s) = hund(ar)
  • Moose = älg
  • Cat(s) = Katt(er)
  • Meat = Kott
  • Horse(s) = Häst(er)
  • It = det
  • several = flera
  • inte = does not (for example, hon läser inte brev = she does not read letters)
  • has = har
  • apple(s) = äpple(n)